autonomous fusion mcity 39A0041 HR
Carsales Staff16 Nov 2015
NEWS

Ford tests driverless Fusion in people-less town

The University of Michigan has created simulated urban environment to test autonomous cars

Ford has released images and video footage of a modified Fusion (Mondeo, as we know it) navigating its way around what could be any small town in mid-west America.

But this town (Population: a handful of Ford engineers and some facility management staff) is named Mcity – and it has been built with the specific goal of testing autonomous cars like the Fusion.

The existence of Mcity is a sign that work on autonomous cars is progressing to the point where laboratory and proving ground testing alone simply doesn't cut it any longer. Ford claims that its autonomous vehicle research has been on-going for over 10 years. Some elements of its research – such as Active Park Assist and autonomous emergency braking – have already made it into the company's production models.

The Fusion that Ford is testing is modified with the installation of cameras, radar, LiDAR and 'real-time 3D mapping' to keep it on track around the 32-acre (10.7 hectares) facility. Mcity, which opened in July, can replicate dangerous scenarios like running a red light. It's a fully-equipped traffic simulacrum with pedestrian crossings, lane markings, bike lanes, trees, footpaths, signs, roundabouts, traffic lights and construction barriers. Additionally, road surfaces cover the full gamut, including concrete, bitumen, brick and dirt.

"Testing Ford's autonomous vehicle fleet at Mcity provides another challenging, yet safe, urban environment to repeatedly check and hone these new technologies," said Raj Nair, Ford group vice president, Global Product Development. "This is an important step in making millions of people's lives better and improving their mobility."

Ryan Eustice, University of Michigan associate professor, says that Mcity provides a compressed level of complexity that – like any test facility – can reproduce incidents in far greater number and frequency than the real world can.

"The goal of Mcity is that we get a scaling factor," Eustice said. "Every mile driven there can represent 10, 100 or 1,000 miles of on-road driving in terms of our ability to pack in the occurrences of difficult events."

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